I feel it is important to compare the measurable benefits of birth support against actual statistics. These statistics are taken from Australia's Mothers & Babies Report 2007 which are the latest statistics available.
Benefits and Statistic
Good birth support can reduce the need for Syntocinon (the drug for induction) by up to 40%
- 26% of births are induced and 9% are augmented. Syntocinon is widely used in both.
Good birth support can reduce the need for epidurals by up to 60%
- 29% of all women used an epidural or spinal medication. There is evidence that shows epidurals can increase the need to have a caesarean or an assisted delivery.
Good birth support can reduce the need for narcotics by up to 30%
- 24% of women used narcotics with 85% of first time mothers using some form of analgesia.
Good birth support can reduce the need for a caesarean by up to 50%
- 29% of women had caesareans. Of those 40% were unplanned so it is a fair assumption many of these women planned to birth vaginally.
- Only 14.5% of mothers who had had a previous caesarean achieved a normal vaginal birth
- 31% of first time mothers had caesareans compared to only 10% of women who had birthed before.
Good birth support can reduce the need for assisted births by up to 40%
- 11% of babies are born using forceps or ventouse (vacuum)
Other Interesting Statistics from 2007
- 60% of women either had a caesarean before labour began or were induced
- Only 24% of women who had vaginal births used no Analgesia at all
- 1% of mother went beyond 42 weeks of pregnancy (full term is until 42 weeks) yet 66.5% of inductions are sighted for being prolonged labours or due to psychological reasons (choice).
Health Sector Statistics
Normal vaginal birth Public 63% Private 42%
Assisted deliveries Public 10% Private 15%
Caesarean Public 27% Private 39%
